Under a major manufacturing and distribution agreement with Wherify Wireless (News - Alert), SOS GPS Holdings will be licensed to manufacture the current version of Wherify's Wherifone GSM-based, GPS locator phone and will be investing in research and development efforts to produce a next-generation version of the product.

 

SOS is also being granted distribution rights to the current version of the Wherifone product and to future versions of the product to be developed by SOS.

 

Vince Sheeran, CEO of Wherify Wireless emphasizes that this is a significant agreement for Wherifone Wireless and an important milestone on their path toward revenue growth and profitability.

 

Sheeran noted that this deal will allow for much wider distribution within the United States and abroad for the current Wherifone product and will ensure that the benefits of their patented technology will be enjoyed by an even larger number of consumers. The relationship will also allow Wherify Wireless to accelerate their movement toward an LBS (Location Based Services) service model.

 

Wherify Wireless’ LBS platform will support a plethora of both GPS and non-GPS mobile devices, enabling mobile applications to quickly and economically deliver location based services to support the wide variety of consumer and enterprise applications being developed for mobile social networking, mobile community search and shopping, personal security, and fleet management.

 

“We are very excited about this new relationship and the positive effects we believe it will have on our margins, business operations and ultimate success,” said Sheeran in a statement.

 

According to Wherify Wireless, SOS may also create future improvements to the Wherifone, which will be jointly owned by Wherify and SOS. Both companies will jointly decide whether to pursue patents for any improvements. SOS has an exclusive worldwide right to manufacture, distribute and market the improved Wherifone.

 

SOS will reportedly pay Wherify a license fee of $1 million, will utilize the Wherify location based services platform for units they sell and pay Wherify a monthly per subscriber fee.

 

Although the term of the license agreement is five years, it may be renewed by SOS for subsequent five year terms for a nominal fee. Under the license agreement, SOS must sell a minimum of 50,000 units per year.